Cooking my way around the world

August 12, 2014August 12, 2014

Colombia

Unusual Fact: Colombia is classed as a “mega-diverse” country, ranking as the 2nd most biodiverse country in the world. It has the highest amount of species by area in the world, including the most endemic species of butterflies, the most orchid species, the most amphibian species and more species of bird than all of Europe and North America combined.

Colombia – DS Lands

While my friend Emma-Kate has just left Peru this week we are arriving in Colombia which is next door.

This Colombian was similar to the one we had for Brazil. What I mean is that the stew that we had for mains is, well, almost similar. They both have chicken and coconut milk. But what differs the two is that the Brazilian meal used more stews and this Colombian one uses more spices.

This stew had incredible flavour. All of the spices mixed with tomato and coconut. It is a match made in heaven. When I was looking for recipes for Colombia, there was so many good-looking ones but what really sold me on this one from 196 Flavours (who have finished their around the world cooking journey) was the fact that there was vanilla in it. I have never had a savoury dish with vanilla in it before.

But what really made this dish was the fried plantains on the side. Unfortunate for the umpteenth time we were unable to source real plantains so we bought some green bananas instead. These added another textural element and added some sweetness. A spoonful with some stew, some rice and a piece of plantains is perfect.

The dessert took tropical fruit to a whole new level. The two sauces were quite different, the very sweet berry syrup and the tart passionfruit. I didn’t have any berry or passionfruit puree so we just used fresh passionfruit and frozen berries instead. The ice at the bottom adds crunch and the condensed milk is just delicious.

The fruits we used were pineapple, mango, strawberry and banana. Just be careful on two points. The ice melts quickly once crushed, even in the middle of winter when we made this. And the pineapple and berry sauces are quite strong taste, you don’t need much. The recipe is from My Colombian Recipes.